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Tuesday, 8 December 2015

HMS Dart & Désirée 1800

Fireships were for many centuries to be some of the most
dramatic and devastating of all naval weapons, albeit that they were difficult
to deploy and dangerous to their crews. The most effective and history-changing
use ever of such ships was when they were used to attack the Spanish Armada at
anchor off Gravelines in 1588. The effect was out of all proportion to the
damage they did – or could do – as they panicked the Spanish captains into
cutting their cables and running out into the North Sea. Adverse weather made a
return impossible, ending hopes of landing a Spanish army on British soil and
driving the majority of the ships to destruction on the Scottish and Irish
coasts. Creasey, the historian, was to number this defeat among what he termed
“The 15 Decisive Battles of the World”.

"The Spanish Armada under fireship attack" by Philip James de Loutherbourg (1740 - 1812)

One of the last – if not the last – deployment of fireships
by the Royal Navy was to take place in July 1800. Close inshore action against
French shipping by aggressive British naval officers was to be a constant
feature of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and this attack, on the
heavily defended French base at Dunkirk, was to be one of the most daring. The inspiration
for the raid came from the noted frigate captain, Henry Inman (1762 – 1809),
then in command of the 32-gun Andromeda,
and the objective was destruction of four French frigates anchored in the
Dunkirk roads – Poursuivante, Incorruptible, Carmagnole and Désirée.
They lay under the protection of powerful coastal gun-batteries, the anchorage
was patrolled by rowed gunboats and treacherous shoals and shallows made
approach treacherous. Fireships were to be a key feature of the operation and
four obsolete brigs were prepared for such duty –Wasp, Falcon, Comet and Rosario.

Under Inman’s overall command, the squadron – what would now
be termed a task-force – consisted of the frigates Andromeda and Nemesis, the
brigs Boxer and Biter, the four fireships, two hired cutters, Kent and Ann and a hired
lugger, Vigilant. There was in
additiona most unusual vessel, HMS Dart, classed as a sloop since nobody
knew what else to call her.

Samuel Bentham

HMS Dart, and her
sister HMS Arrow, were experimental
vessels, never indeed to be repeated. They were the brain-child of Sir Samuel
Bentham (1757 – 1831) – brother of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. At this
stage in his remarkable career as an engineer and naval architect, in Britain,
Russia and China, Bentham held the position of Inspector General of Naval Works.
Designed to operate in coastal waters these two vessels were virtually
double-ended and featured a large breadth-to-length ratio, structural
bulkheads, and sliding keels. Of 150 tons and a mere 80 feet long overall, they
packed an enormous punch for their size, all guns being carronades, twenty-four
32-pounders on the upper deck, two 32 pounders on the forecastle and another
two on the quarterdeck. Dart’s
command had been assumed in 1799 by Commander Patrick Campbell (1773 –1841),
who would later rise to flag rank and in this year, and the next, she would see
active and successful service in Dutch coastal waters.

Bad weather delayed the start of the operation but it was
finally launched on the night of 7th July, the vessels in line-ahead
with Campbell and the Dart – and her
massive fire-power – leading. His
objective was to attack the innermost French frigate while the fireships were
to grapple the other three and so destroy them. Dart drew ahead of the other British vessels and, as the night was
dark, managed to come close enough by midnight for the nearest French vessel to
challenge her. Campbell answered that his ship was French, from Bordeaux, and this
appears to have been accepted. Dart,
unsuspected, moved on unhindered past the first two frigates until another
French challenge asked what convoy was coming in her wake. The answer “Je ne sais pas” – “I don’t know” – was,
quite amazingly, accepted. Suspicions were however aroused on the third French
ship, which now opened fire. As she ran past her, Dart unleashed a smashing broadside. Her carronades had been
double-shotted with round and grapeshot – almost 900 pounds of metal per
broadside – and the effect was devastating.

Dart (r) crashes into Desiree - note that she is virtually double-ended

Engraving after a painting by Thomas Whitcombe (1763-1824)

Dart drove on to
crash into her target, the fourth and innermost frigate, the Désirée. Her bowsprit ran into the
foremast’s shrouds. Led
by Dart’s first-lieutenant, James M'Dermeit, fifty men swarmed across. The
inevitable man-to-man fighting ensued and M'Dermeit, wounded, called for reinforcement. Campbell managed to drag the Dart fully alongside so as to allow a
second boarding party to get across. This decided the issue and the French were
subdued, and struck. Captain Inman had been following in the lugger Vigilant, crewed by thirty volunteers
from Andromeda, and under intense
fire, came alongside Désirée, boarded,
cut her cable and took her out to sea. The struggle had been vicious but
one-sided – of Désirée’s 330-man crew
over 100 were killed or wounded, with only a single midshipman surviving from
her officers. Dart, by comparison, suffered
one man killed and eleven wounded – surprise had paid off

The fireships
had meanwhile launched their attack. Packed with combustible material and gunpowder,
set ablaze by their volunteer crews, they were steered towards the remaining three
French frigates while the Dart and the
two brigs, Boxer and Biter, provided covering fire.Pulling boats accompanied them to take
off the crews – the officers commanding the fireships remained on board until
they were all but enveloped by flames. The French reacted as the Spanish had
done over two centuries previously – they cut their cables and sailed under
fire past Dart, Boxer and Biter into shoal-waters familiar to them
where the British could not follow. Unmanned now, the fireships drifted until they
exploded without doing any damage to the enemy. Rowed gunboats came out from
Dunkirk to join in the fray but were repulsed by the hired cutters.

Incorruptible, sister of the Desiree, of the same Romaine-classShe was one of the three French frigates to escape capture at Dunkirk

Recognising that the three surviving French frigates were
now unreachable, Inman ordered withdrawal. With no room for prisoners and with large
numbers of French wounded, he sent his captives back into Dunkirk. Success had
been partial, and the moral effect of the attack must have been considerable. Campbell
of the Dart was deservedly promoted
to post captain and given command of the sixth-rate Ariadne. The Désirée was commissioned
in the Royal Navy as HMS Desiree
under Inman’s command. She was to see much active service thereafter, including
participation in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. Inman’s own subsequent
career was also active but poor health led to his early death in India in 1809.
It is notable that prize money was paid for Désirée’s
capture but head money, an award made for enemy servicemen killed, wounded or
captured, was not paid, probably due to the return of the prisoners.

And what became of the innovative HMS Dart and her sister Arrow?
Both were to have further active careers and deserve separate blogs in the
future. Watch out for them!

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About Me

My "Dawlish Chronicles" are set in the late 19th Century and reflect my deep interest in the politics, attitudes and technology of the period. The fifth novel in the series, “Britannia’s Amazon” is now available in both paperback and Kindle formats. It follows the four earlier Dawlish Chronicles, "Britannia's Wolf", "Britannia's Reach”, "Britannia's Shark" and "Britannia's Spartan". Click on the book covers below to learn more or to purchase.
I’ve had an adventurous career in the international energy industry and am proud of having worked in every continent except Antarctica. History is a driving passion in my life and I have travelled widely to visit sites of historical significance, many insights gained in this way being reflected in my writing. I welcome contact on Facebook and via this Blog. My website is www.dawlishchronicles.com and its “Conflict” section has a large number of articles on topics from the mid-18th Century to the early 20th Century.